October 7, 2016 AT 12:30 am

As part of our ongoing coverage of National Hispanic Heritage Month, today we are celebrating Luis Federico Leloir, Argentine physician and biochemist.

Luis Federico Leloir was an Argentine physician and biochemist who received the 1970 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Although born in France, Leloir received the majority of his education at the University of Buenos Aires and was director of the private research group Fundación Instituto Campomar until his death in 1987. Although his laboratories were often plagued by lack of financial support and second-rate equipment, his research into sugar nucleotides, carbohydrate metabolism, and renal hypertension has garnered international attention and fame and has led to significant progress in understanding, diagnosing and treating the congenital disease galactosemia. Luis Leloir is buried in La Recoleta Cemetery, Buenos Aires.